Motorola’s top secret 8MP “Alexander” phone could be Motorola ZN12

It’s no secret that Motorola’s headed for the dumps. They’ve stretched the original RAZR concept way too thin to make any more money from it, and they’re quickly nearing their end, apparently. So what’s a failing company to do? Why, produce a large comeback project that’s so big it needs the name of one of history’s greatest conquerors.

Motorola’s supposedly top secret dark project called the Alexander is rumored to be the company’s last attempt at selling a mobile phone. And with the rumored features, we can’t help but think back a few months to a certain leaked handset called the Motorola Z12.

The Motorola Z12, or ZiNe 12 (ZN12) if we take the new naming scheme into play, is said to be a touchscreen Motorola handset that will run on Symbian UIQ. Details have been very scarce about the phone so far, but we do know that Moto’s been working on it for as far as the introduction of the old Z8 and Z10 models.

According to BGR’s post, the “Alexander” (or the Motorola ZN12 as we’ll be calling it from now on) will feature the following:

The phone will have a built-in GPS feature
Could be a touchscreen
Release date might be on October
Also called a “Dark Project” inside Motorola’s walls due to the utmost secrecy surrounding it

And if you look back to our info about the leaked handset from a few months ago, you’ll find that it actually fits the bill quite nicely.

MOTO Z12 ZiNE does not have a full touchscreen. Instead, the screen is divided into two parts, with the bottom part featuring a touch sensitive slip for phone controls. The kick-slider keypad is used for the other functions.

Yesterday’s MWC teaser was indeed about Z12, which will have a 16M color VGA resolution 2.8? display, the quality of which goes well beyond anything we are used to in mobile handsets (does NVIDIA ring a bell, anyone?).

Motorola Z12 is not positioned as a camera phone, touting multimedia smarphone features instead.

It’s going to be hard to put a pin on what Motorola is really up to these days, but if all of these rumors come down in the form of an attractive handset soon, perhaps they may really make a comeback.

For now, this looks like Motorola’s last best hope, and it’s either this one sells, or the company does. But while I’m all for a Motorola comeback, somehow I feel like this effort will never do. Time will tell if these rumors hold true.